South Korea’s Spy Satellite Fails to Make Contact

On the morning of the 8th (Korean time), the Military Reconnaissance Satellite 2 was launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. / Captured from SpaceX footage

The military reconnaissance satellite 2, launched at 8:17 a.m. on the 8th (Korean time), failed to establish preliminary communication with the overseas ground station.

The Ministry of National Defense announced via text message at around 9:21 a.m. that “the preliminary communication attempted with the overseas ground station by our military’s reconnaissance satellite 2 at around 9:11 a.m. (Korean time) on the 8th did not proceed” and that “we plan to attempt the main communication at around 10:54 a.m. (with the overseas ground station).”

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle, which carried our military’s reconnaissance satellite 2, was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, on the same day. The launch vehicle successfully separated into two stages and entered the target orbit at around 9:02 a.m.